Bryce Harper Autograph And Laundry Tag Card

2018 Topps Dynasty Autographed Patch Gold #AP-BH5 - Bryce Harper (1/1)

While there are some stupid relic cards out in the collecting world (pens anyone?), this "relic" at least is part of a uniform. The tag off of a uniform.

Topps Dynasty is for the collector that likes to blow "stupid money", as the Phillies like to say. So maybe the Phillies management will go in for this Bryce Harper autographed card with laundry tag relic that is a one of one. I mean it's only $3,999.99 plus $29.99 shipping on eBay. That's a bargain! Especially if you open a PayPal credit card account. That way it's only $167 per month for twenty-four months! Interested yet? Me either.

While I have the lofty, never attainable goal of getting a copy of every card ever made of my favorite team, I would never be able to get a card like this. Nor would I necessarily want it. The concept seems gaudy. The execution looks like it came from the mind of a five year old. My apologies to all five year olds out there. Also, my apologies if this card is your cup of tea. It's just not mine.

This card is a nice dream perhaps, but as a realistic goal... not so much.

Hey. You know who could afford this card? I heard Bryce Harper just got a boat load of cash. Manny Machado did too. Maybe they could buy it and hand it out to a random fan. That sounds nicest of all.

2008 Topps Heritage Relic - Lance Berkman

I went to Target today to pick up a few supplies and they finally had some packs of 2008 Topps Heritage available. I picked up a few, hoping to add to my set. I did get a few for my set and a few for the doubles pile. Plus, I got an unexpected jersey card of Lance Berkman.

I have a soft spot for the Astros, ever since I laid eyes on those rainbow uniforms when I was a kid. They are ugly as sin, but it made quite an impression on my young mind. There are some teams that I could never truly dislike because of some weird association with them as a child. The Astros are one of those teams.

I follow them a little bit now. Nothing like I used to, but I do keep my eye on them. The only time I really didn't like them was in the 2005 postseason. It was a nightmare come to life to see the Astros against the White Sox. Of course I was rooting for the White Sox all the way, but a part of me wanted the Astros to at least do well.

To their credit, the Astros put up one hell of a fight. Any one of those games could have gone either way. As it turned out, the Astros were swept. They kept in each game though. You have to admire a team like that. They wouldn't roll over and die, they fought tooth and nail until the final out.

I usually can't catch Astros games because of where I live. If they aren't playing the Cubs or on a national broadcast, I can pretty much forget seeing them. Sometimes they don't even make the Sportscenter or Baseball Tonight highlights.

I can remember going to a game in Detroit, with a friend, to see the Tigers take on the Astros. A third of me wanted to see the Astros, another third wanted to see the Tigers brand new stadium and the other third wanted to see a baseball game outside of Chicago. All three thirds of me enjoyed the experience of watching the Astros win in a battle of interleague last place teams in a brand new stadium in a strange city.

I wore my White Sox hat. My friend wore his Cubs hat. Everyone was friendly and welcomed us to Comerica Park. We were expecting to be the strange highlight for this interleague game that no one cared about. ESPN never showed a clip. They just showed a quick score and on to the commercials.

When I see certain players from that 2000 Astros squad, I always think of that game. The five hour drive and the hotel bathroom that was bigger than the actual room. I suppose this card gets me that much closer to the game that I saw that July night in 2000. I can live with that. Lance, your jersey wasn't cut up for nothing. It sparked wonderful memories.

The George Washington DNA Relic

This card was talked about in every collector's magazine, blog and online venue. It featured an authentic strand of hair from the first recognized President of the United States. There have been many others before George Washington to hold the title of President of the United States. For arguments sake, we'll just say Washington is the first President.

I don't know about you, but the prospect of this card is a little creepy. It feels like grave robbing. In the 21st century, it's hard to imagine owning a strand of hair from a world famous person that died less than a month before the start of the 19th century.

Who would want to collect a card like this? Can we expect a card of Babe Ruth's follicles in the next few years? Will this lead to a flurry of authentic hair cards? The closest thing I can compare this to would be a CD that Mancow was selling that featured a little bag with a few strands of his beard. I didn't know what to do with that and I don't know what to do with this.

Mancow's hair giveaway with every CD was a joke. A poor joke about cloning if I remember correctly, but a joke nonetheless. This card is no joke. Maybe Topps will come out with a JFK hair strand card this year. Where do you draw the line though? Would a Michael Jordan hair card have more of an impact than George Washington? Would a Thad Bosley hair card have any collectors?

These are questions that I can't answer. I hope they are never answered. When I first heard of the George Washington card, I thought it was pretty cool. A piece of history. Then reality sunk in, the more I thought about it. What is the attraction here? Shouldn't this be in some museum or a presidential library? Why would this be included in a baseball card set? Baseball wasn't even invented in its modern form when George Washington was alive.

This would be a perfect fit for Donruss Americana. I just don't see how it fits in with Allen & Ginter. The only connection to Allen & Ginter that I can see would be smoking. I've heard rumors that George Washington used to smoke tobacco, marijuana and opium. There is no concrete evidence that he smoked anything, but he did grow tobacco.

I guess that if there are cards of uniforms, bats, gloves, baseballs and jackets, this shouldn't be so far fetched. It's just too much of a leap from things used in a baseball game. Someday there will be skin peelings from Trot Nixon from a sunburn that he got from playing the field. I hope not, but I wouldn't doubt it.

2007 Allen & Ginter Relic - Carl Crawford

I finally did get that box of Allen & Ginter last year, but I bought it off of eBay. I had to wait a little longer than I wanted to, but I paid much less than I would at the card shops. The waiting was killing me. Especially, when one of the guys who beat me to the Allen & Ginter boxes at the friendly card shop pulled out a Bruce Lee belt relic which sold for just shy of $300.

My first pull from the Allen & Ginter release was from a pack that I bought at the unfriendly card shop. It was a Barry Zito relic. Nothing spectacular and his career had already peaked by that point.

The first pull from the box was this Carl Crawford relic. The relic itself is not that remarkable, but the card and the frame that surrounds it looks outstanding!

This was a wonderful idea for a relic design. It looks like it would have come from the original set as a redemption or something. This card is sharp! It also helps that I like Carl Crawford. I was really hoping the White Sox would somehow wrangle him away from the Rays. I'd be comfortable with Carl Crawford patrolling center field.

I'm very happy with this pull. It's a great looking card of a great player. The frame makes this card. If it weren't for the multi-colored palm leaves and linear framing, this could have been a very boring card. This just proves, once again, that Allen & Ginter is one of the most pleasing and consistent card releases of 2007.